Quantitative vs. qualitative changes in collectors from poor to rich
ccex
Posts: 1,188 ✭✭✭
I hope you will pardon a slightly philosophical thread here.
After reading several "market reports" based on the big ANA convention I have a better understanding of the ease or difficulty in buying and selling many desirable U.S. coins. Such market wisdom seems almost irrelevant to this collector who only once paid over $500 for a single coin, and who has never submitted to PCGS or NGC. Most of my favorite coins cost about $100 each, and half of my slabbed coins are in lowly ANACS holders.
I thought to myself, do all serious collectors of U.S. coins have the same qualities, or does the price of the coins they can buy and sell make rich collectors very different from poor collectors?
Chihauhas and Great Danes are both dogs. They both sweat through their tongues, and make their masters take them outside for a walk. However, a Chihauha's water dish could be the size of a teacup, and the Great Dane needs a 3-gallon bucket. Perhaps there is a qualitative difference between Great Danes and Chihauhas?
I am too old to be a YN, too serious about coins to be just a casual hoarder of wheat cents or State Quarters, and have filled most of my Whitman albums long ago. My breed of collector is sized something like a Beagle in the range of relative sizes/budgets of collectors. I have never been befriended by a collector or a dealer much bigger than a Golden Retriever, although I've been snarled at a couple of times by even bigger numismatic dogs.
When I have attended larger shows, I have often been ignored by famous dealers whom I have read about here and in Coin World. Although very few dealers have been rude to me, I get the feeling that these Great Danes are prowling for Porterhouse Steaks, not the $100 dog food my digestive tract (budget) can handle. Even if the dealers like Legend were still around the show when I arrive on Saturday afternoon, I would feel as foolish asking if they had any semi-key Barber Dimes in XF-AU. Usually the big dogs grab the Porterhouse Steaks before the show opens its doors to those who sell their extra Kibbles and Bits for a nice can of Alpo. The big dogs say that they are too dog tired to haggle with the small dogs in the last day, since their mission was accomplished a couple of hectic days earlier.
This thread is not about big dealers leaving the show early.
I simply ask, are collectors of expensive coins as unlikely to spend time with collectors of cheap coins as Great Danes are to breed with Chihauhas or Beagles? Do Registry Set collectors and those who have collections more expensive than my house control the hobby, merely letting the underclass of collectors read their posts, ads, and opinions? I sense that our hobby is defined by the big dogs, who have little to do with the majority of small dog collectors. Are they two different classes?
My hunch is that the greatest collectors are as generous with their time as they can afford to be with serious small collectors, but they need to stay with other big dogs in order to pay the bills, thus creating the impression that they eschew the smaller breeds altogether. I try to spend time with young small dogs with questions about their coins, and feel that I have accumulated a little specialized knowledge, with which I can even show big old dogs a couple of new tricks, if they would let me.
After reading several "market reports" based on the big ANA convention I have a better understanding of the ease or difficulty in buying and selling many desirable U.S. coins. Such market wisdom seems almost irrelevant to this collector who only once paid over $500 for a single coin, and who has never submitted to PCGS or NGC. Most of my favorite coins cost about $100 each, and half of my slabbed coins are in lowly ANACS holders.
I thought to myself, do all serious collectors of U.S. coins have the same qualities, or does the price of the coins they can buy and sell make rich collectors very different from poor collectors?
Chihauhas and Great Danes are both dogs. They both sweat through their tongues, and make their masters take them outside for a walk. However, a Chihauha's water dish could be the size of a teacup, and the Great Dane needs a 3-gallon bucket. Perhaps there is a qualitative difference between Great Danes and Chihauhas?
I am too old to be a YN, too serious about coins to be just a casual hoarder of wheat cents or State Quarters, and have filled most of my Whitman albums long ago. My breed of collector is sized something like a Beagle in the range of relative sizes/budgets of collectors. I have never been befriended by a collector or a dealer much bigger than a Golden Retriever, although I've been snarled at a couple of times by even bigger numismatic dogs.
When I have attended larger shows, I have often been ignored by famous dealers whom I have read about here and in Coin World. Although very few dealers have been rude to me, I get the feeling that these Great Danes are prowling for Porterhouse Steaks, not the $100 dog food my digestive tract (budget) can handle. Even if the dealers like Legend were still around the show when I arrive on Saturday afternoon, I would feel as foolish asking if they had any semi-key Barber Dimes in XF-AU. Usually the big dogs grab the Porterhouse Steaks before the show opens its doors to those who sell their extra Kibbles and Bits for a nice can of Alpo. The big dogs say that they are too dog tired to haggle with the small dogs in the last day, since their mission was accomplished a couple of hectic days earlier.
This thread is not about big dealers leaving the show early.
I simply ask, are collectors of expensive coins as unlikely to spend time with collectors of cheap coins as Great Danes are to breed with Chihauhas or Beagles? Do Registry Set collectors and those who have collections more expensive than my house control the hobby, merely letting the underclass of collectors read their posts, ads, and opinions? I sense that our hobby is defined by the big dogs, who have little to do with the majority of small dog collectors. Are they two different classes?
My hunch is that the greatest collectors are as generous with their time as they can afford to be with serious small collectors, but they need to stay with other big dogs in order to pay the bills, thus creating the impression that they eschew the smaller breeds altogether. I try to spend time with young small dogs with questions about their coins, and feel that I have accumulated a little specialized knowledge, with which I can even show big old dogs a couple of new tricks, if they would let me.
"Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity" - Hanlon's Razor
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I collect both expensive coins and cheapy ones. I love them all. What does that make me? A hybrid?
<< <i>Paul,
I collect both expensive coins and cheapy ones. I love them all. What does that make me? A hybrid?
Unusual, if you can get as much enjoyment out of buying and selling the cheapies as the expensive ones.
You are fortunate to be able to enjoy "slumming" in the lowly coins that make up most collections and still be able to obtain coins most collectors can not. You might make a successful politician!
The small collector buys a lot (notice two words
Chris
My Collection of Old Holders
Never a slave to one plastic brand will I ever be.
This is actually one of the great things about our hobby. There is room for everyone, at any economic level to participate and enjoy. While we all share much in common, our interests within the hobby are diverse and not only limited by our pocket book, but also by where are passions are.
When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary.
Thomas Paine